


Karaoke Night

by swagnushammersmith



Category: Fables - Willingham
Genre: 2003, Baker Street, Bring Me to Life, Evanescence, F/M, Gerry Rafferty, Karaoke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 08:31:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3685350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swagnushammersmith/pseuds/swagnushammersmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fandom: Fables<br/>Pairing: Snowby<br/>Characters: Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Bluebeard, Boy Blue, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Mayor King Cole<br/>Word Count: 1990</p>
            </blockquote>





	Karaoke Night

**Author's Note:**

> Additional Notes: Set in 2003, near the beginning of Fables. Beta'd by maebmin. Silly karaoke fun times. The songs that Bluebeard and Boy Blue sang in this fic are "Stupify" by Disturbed and "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty, respectively.

Everyone wasn’t exactly sure why Mayor Cole suggested a night out for “some good old mundy-fashioned fun.” It wasn’t out of his nature, sure. But in all the centuries that Fabletown had been going, the Fables at the Business Office never went out on a night together. It wasn’t like they didn’t know each other, either. 

But here they all were, amongst the mundies at a bar. Snow reluctantly went along after much prodding from Mayor Cole, though she didn’t know Prince Charming was tagging along. She could very well handle Boy Blue coming along, he was definitely the at the bottom of her list of worries. It was strange that neither Flycatcher or Pinocchio came along with him, though; those three were insepreable. Why Bluebeard came, she wasn’t sure; he didn’t even work at the Business Office, although it was his money that kept Fabletown going. She begrudgingly gave him a pass. Cinderella, sure okay. She did conduct official Fabletown business. 

And there was Bigby, too… she was a little surprised that he came. Considering how good his senses were and how much he had to smoke and drink just to suppress them, she wondered why he voluntarily came to a place full of people and loud noises. 

And boy, was this place LOUD. It was karaoke night at this bar. Even though they all had their own table in a corner away from a lot of the commotion, Snow was sure it didn’t make a difference for Bigby. The noise, the company, and the combination of booze and the chance to show off (or humiliate oneself) was a recipe for a long night ahead.

“Let’s have a grand time, tonight!” Mayor Cole said in his usual jolly manner.

“Yes, let’s!” said Bluebeard said, clapping his hands together. “I’ll order us the first round of food and drinks! My treat!” He left the table without giving the chance for anyone to object.

“Bluebeard’s sure being nice tonight…” Cinderella said, a bit unsettled.

Bigby just gave an affirmative “Hm” sound in response to that.

Already an awkward silence of conversation fell over the table. Even though Bluebeard just left to order, Boy Blue looked over to see if he was back yet. Bigby leaned back in his seat between Blue and Snow with a cigarette between his fingers. Cindy looked over at Snow in hopes that she could bring up an interesting topic to talk about. 

Snow blurted out the first thing she could think of. “So, Mayor Cole, I expect the meeting with the--”

“Miss Snow, let’s not fret over business matters tonight,” Mayor Cole said, cutting her off. “Let’s just enjoy ourselves.”

“Yeah, Snow,” Charming added. “Let’s just enjoy ourselves.” He punctuated that last statement with a wink, which turned off Snow more than anything.

Boy Blue slammed his fists on the table. “I don’t know about you guys,” he said, “but I’m gonna go see what they got in the karaoke catalog.” 

Bluebeard returned as soon as Boy Blue walked away. “What’s his problem?” he asked.

“He’s gonna check out the karaoke,” Bigby said, taking a puff of his cigarette.

“Oh really? That sounds like a bit of fun once we’ve had a few drinks in our systems.”

“You know what would be fun? Karaoke duets!” Charming said.

“I think I’ll sit out on karaoke, thanks,” Snow said.

“Why, Miss Snow?” Mayor Cole said.

“I just would rather not.”

Bigby looked down at Snow, feeling her discomfort with the whole situation. “I think I’ll sit out and watch the rest of you make fools of yourselves with karaoke,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

“You guys are no fun,” Charming whined. 

“I’m content with that,” Bigby replied as the waiter came to their table with the drinks. “Shit, Bluebeard, you’re not being stingy with the booze.”

Bluebeard laughed picked up his drink, something fruity and sweet, as evidenced by the grapefruit wedge on the edge of the glass. “I’ll bet once we get enough of these in you, you’ll be more than willing to make a fool of yourself up there.”

Just as Bluebeard finished that sentence, the karaoke announcer’s voice boomed through the bar. “Next we have… Blue? That’s all he put for his name…. He’s singing ‘Baker Street’ by Gerry Rafferty!” Polite applause echoed through the audience as Blue got up on stage, and the sounds of saxophones started up his song.

The table of Fables laughed uncontrollably at this. In that moment they had an understanding of “Of course he would pick this song. He finds every excuse he can to play this stupid song on his goddamn horn.” 

Blue certainly wasn’t the worst at singing, but he sure could have used some voice lessons. His fellow Fables continued to laugh as he awkwardly looked at the lyrics on the screen in front of him, his voice initially croaking out the words before he cleared his throat and could get out some semblance of singing.

_Winding your way down Baker Street..._

After Blue finished, most of everyone else wanted a turn at the karaoke machine, either because it just looked too fun or they wanted to show that they could definitely sing better than him. Bluebeard kept bringing in more and more drinks, even after he said he’d just get the first round in. Bigby had a feeling that he just wanted to see the rest of them make utter fools of themselves on that damn machine, especially Bigby himself. He didn’t care so much after a while because the sensory overload of all the noise and the awful smells was starting to get to him; he needed to drink and smoke to get his mind off of his surroundings.

Snow on the other hand, was taking the drinks as quickly as they would come. Bigby could see that she was frustrated at Charming’s presence at what supposed to be a fun night. His quips and cringe-worthy performances of Justin Timberlake songs did not make things better for her. Bigby saw how she would grip her glass a little tighter as Charming put his moves on some poor woman in the audience.

She loosened up a little when Bluebeard went up and sang, much to Bigby's relief. She laughed as he sang a song by Disturbed that required a constant shift between actual singing and screeching. And seeing him attempt to headbang was the most hilarious bit of all for her. That was when she grabbed Bigby’s arm. 

“Bigby,” she said, evidently buzzed. “Let’s… let’s sing a song.”

“Snow?” He was a bit surprised, to say the least, though he didn’t object to her touching his arm. “I thought you didn’t want to do karaoke.”

“I changed my mind!” She stood up and pulled Bigby out of his chair, too, and walked them to the station where the announcer and the catalog were. Before she even opened the book, she turned to face Bigby once more. “You know that song that goes ‘Wake me up! Wake me up inside!’”

Bigby knew what she was talking about, that song was playing a lot on the radio recently. He heard it when he was in the cab or when someone was driving him somewhere.

“I wanna do that one!” she said. Before he could object, she was telling the announcer what song she wanted to sing. Oh well. Bigby figured she wanted him to sing the male parts of the song, which he knew he would have no trouble doing.

Even so, their turn on the stage seemed to come way too quickly for his liking. The table of Fables cheered them on in an uproar as he and Snow were handed microphones. The opening piano bits of the song fluttered out of the speakers.

_How can you see into my eyes… like open doors?_

Bigby was taken aback by her voice. It was so…. beautiful. He would have remembered such a singing voice, especially if it came from Snow.

She was already enraptured by the song, as Bigby was enraptured by her singing. Even Charming shouting and cheering from their table didn’t bother her as she continued to sing.

_Until you find it there and lead it back… home…_

Bigby fumbled a bit because he realized his parts in the chorus were up.

_Wake me up!_

_Wake me up inside!_

_I can’t wake up!_

_Wake me up inside!_

Their voices worked so perfectly well together… at least Bigby would have liked to think so. Being up on that stage didn’t feel so embarrassing with Snow up there, even if she was a little buzzed. Speaking of, Snow had to hold Bigby’s shoulder to get a bit of leverage. The booze was getting to her.

_Now I know what I’m without… you can’t just leave me…_

And it was in that moment that Bigby the lyrics of the song resonate with him, now that they were laid out before him on a screen. And now that they were coming from Snow.

_Bring me to life…_

The final chorus came, and they conquered it. Snow held on to that last note like a champ. And as the song faded out, cheers from everyone in the bar roared up, not just from their table of colleagues.

Snow still held onto Bigby’s shoulder as they walked back to their table. He didn’t mind this at all. They didn’t really pay much mind to everyone telling them what a great job they did singing the song, how much they rocked, how cute they were on stage.

“Bigby,” Snow said quietly as she looked up at him.

“Yeah, Snow?”

“I’m… tired. Can you take me home?”

“Sure, Snow.”

Without a word to the rest of their party, they left the bar. Snow’s hand remained on Bigby’s shoulder for balance as he hailed a cab.

“Glad to be out of there,” Bigby said as he climbed into the back seat. He held out his hand for Snow to grab and climb in next to him.

“Yeah,” she said with sleepiness in her voice. “I had wayyy too much to drink. Good thing Bluebeard’s paying for it.”

“Yeah.”

Without thinking about it, Snow leaned her head on Bigby’s shoulder. Not that he blamed her. She was tired, and she spent a lot of energy singing that song in the bar.

“I had fun tonight,” Bigby said. Though most of his night was spent drowning out the noises of the bar with booze and withstanding the tension between Snow and Charming, it was worth it. The little touches on his arm and shoulder and getting the chance to listen to Snow’s beautiful voice was worth it.

“Me too.” Just then, the cab’s radio started playing the very song that they sang together. The familiar piano sounds tickled their ears, and they opted to hum along instead of full-on singing.

_Frozen inside, without your touch, without your love, darling…_

“Hey Bigby?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you for doing that with me.”

“Not a problem, Snow.”

Bigby looked out the window with a smile on his face the rest of the way to the Woodlands. He escorted Snow all the way back to her apartment on the sixth floor, even though he knew by then she had lost her buzz. He still wanted to make sure that she was okay.

Snow assured him that she’d be okay for the rest of the night. She just needed to sleep, and he probably should, too. “Thank you for getting me back home.”

“You’re welcome, Snow. Pleasant dreams.”

Bigby took his time walking back to his apartment. He didn’t realize until after he dropped Snow back off how tired he was, too.

He made a mental note as he settled into his chair for the night to buy a radio, and to find the CD that song was on. It was starting to become his favorite.

_Bring me to life…_


End file.
